To bring you quickly up to speed, Thursday was local election day in Scotland, Wales and much of England, excluding London boroughs. It didn't get a live thread, because it's not exactly important in the scheme of things, but it gives interesting clues as to the outcome of the snap General Election in June. The results were .... interesting.The Conservatives have gained hundreds of seats at the expense of Labour and UKIP in local elections across Britain. But what does it all mean for June's general election?
There was an average swing of just over 7% from Labour to the Conservatives in the English county council elections, compared with 2013 when these councils were last fought over.
Converted into the equivalent of a nationwide vote, the party took a 38% share, making it the party's best English local election performance since 2008.
Meanwhile, the party looks as though it has at least doubled the 13% of the vote it won in the last Scottish local elections in 2012, marking another stage in the revival of its fortunes north of the border.
The party also unexpectedly won the Tees Valley mayoral election and narrowly won the big West Midland mayoral contest.
All in all a highly satisfactory outing for Theresa May.
More:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39822775
